Mike McAran reflects on career of making students' lives better

Sunday

Jun 30, 2013 at 1:00 PM

By David FrownfelderDaily Telegram Staff Writer

Mike McAran jokes that he has never been hired for a job for which he applied. He takes pride that in his education career, his administrative positions in both Sand Creek schools and Tecumseh schools resulted from recruitments rather than through job applications.

McAran retires today as superintendent of Tecumseh Public Schools. He is ending a 47-year education career, the last nine as head of Tecumseh schools.

As for his legacy, McAran said he will leave that to others to decide. But he said a source of pride is how well the Tecumseh district has weathered the most recent economic slowdown. McAran credits his boards of education with doing a lot of the heavy lifting.

"With all the cuts that happened in education, we never cut a single program," he said. "Everybody had wages frozen for several years, and a lot of people who had them before don't have benefits. But our job is to give an education to students. During the worst economic times, we have been able to maintain everything. All of the little extra programs that are for students have been kept."

After contemplating and deciding against law school, McAran taught history and English in the Fraser school district in Macomb County from 1966 to 1976. He came to Lenawee County as assistant Tecumseh High School principal and athletic director from 1976 to 1983 before taking a job as high school principal with Sand Creek Community Schools. McAran returned to Tecumseh in 1998 as middle school principal and, after Todd Bingaman died, was appointed superintendent in 2005.

Despite all of the twists and turns and the changes in education, McAran said it has been a great career. He declined to single out one good day as being above any other, preferring instead to remember the people with whom he came into contact.

"You miss the people who perform well and do things for the kids," he said. "I will miss those people. You develop good relationships because you work well together."

McAran said, as a teacher, one of his great joys was seeing a student suddenly understand a concept or an idea.

"I love the fact that the light bulb would go on," he said.

McAran admitted he could be hard-nosed, especially when it came to following rules. Oddly enough, he found that many of his longest friendships are with students he had to discipline. Several of his former students from Fraser came to Tecumseh for his retirement open house on May 30.

"You develop a friendship because often you were the only person who talked to them about what was wrong," McAran said. "I like the fact that you can turn kids around and make their lives go better."

Ed Tritt and Deborah Johnson-Berges served as school board presidents for most of McAran's time in Tecumseh. Both praised the retiring superintendent for his dedication to both education and to the community.

Tritt was on the board when McAran was hired, but was defeated in a bid for re-election in 2005. He came back on the board in 2010 and has been president the past two years. Despite differences on some issues, notably the athletic complex at Tecumseh High School, Tritt said they had a good working relationship.

"Mike and I worked well together," said Tritt. "We didn't always see eye-to-eye, but I think all of the decisions he made were made in the best interests of the students and the district."

Johnson-Berges said McAran was the main reason the family chose to move to Tecumseh in 1999. They met him during the decision-making process when McAran was Tecumseh Middle School principal.

"Mike met us at the middle school and gave us a tour of the school," she wrote in an email. "We were impressed that he said 'Hello,' to all the students and had something nice to say about each of them. We wanted our sons in a system that showed so much interest in their students."

Johnson-Berges was elected to the board in 2005, when McAran became superintendent. She praised his work in keeping the district financially stable while dealing with aging buildings and keeping the education focus on students, never giving up on a student.

"Suspensions and expulsions were always difficult, but Mike tried to find ways of assisting the student and their family, so they could return to the classroom," she wrote. "For students that made stupid mistakes, Mike tried to keep the door to education open for them."

As president of the board from 2008 through 2010, Johnson-Berges, who was reappointed to fill a vacant seat June 24, said she appreciated McAran's dedication and hard work.

"He became superintendent at a time when our district was looking for someone to trust," she wrote.

After his annual evaluation by the board of education last June, McAran announced his intention to retire after the 2012-13 school year. Kelly Coffin will begin her new job as superintendent of Tecumseh Public Schools on Monday, July 1.

After a search assisted by the Michigan Association of School Boards, the board selected Coffin, a former teacher in the district with nine years' experience as an administrator at both Onsted and the Lenawee Intermediate School District. McAran said he gave her one piece of advice: When she makes a decision she believes is correct, don't back down.

"She will do just fine. She's going to make a lot of decisions that people will like and some that they won't," he said. "I told her, 'If you think you are right, stick to your guns. Weather the storm after you've made (the decisions.)' "

During his time in Tecumseh, McAran hasn't just been involved in education. He served on the Raisin Township Planning Commission and was also recruited by the late Harold Easton to be a trustee on the Herrick Hospital board.

After Monday, his family and his health will be McAran's priorities. He had polio at a young age and still has some residual effects.

"I've been having some pain on the left side of my body, as (polio) does come back," he said. "(Weight) lifting, biking and exercising will lessen the stress of post-polio syndrome."

Following a weeklong family gathering at a lake cottage, McAran will spend more time with local service clubs. He begins a term as president of the Tecumseh Rotary Club on Monday and is vice president of the Tecumseh Kiwanis Club. As for retirement, McAran is unsure how he should feel.

"I've never really thought about retirement," he said. "First, you get all excited about doing it, then you get real nervous and after you get your Medicare card, the reality hits that you are going to actually be a retired person. That will be new, because I have never not worked since I was about in the fifth grade."

McAran said he has tried to follow advice that his father gave him and do his best to keep his integrity.

"If somebody comes in mad at you, don't get mad. Listen," he said. "If they have a better thing than you have, keep an open mind and you change what you thought was right. You listen and you learn."

McAran said he has done his best to do just that. Now it is leisure time.